icult to negotiate when they are raked out of the crannies of the
rocks. There was a semi-lunar implement in the boats also, with four
internal prongs, at the end of a long shaft, used for catching
cuttle-fish.

At the hotel in which we stayed on our first visit there was a
green-and-yellow parrot which was very tame. His accomplishments
included the saying "Marietta, padrona, and hello" quite clearly,
singing and laughing. Its mistress made it flirt with a highly coloured
young lady on a poster in a very diverting fashion. At Fiume we saw two
parrots of the same kind on perches outside a shop; and my friend,
recollecting the friendly bird at Parenzo, made overtures to them, which
were not received in the proper spirit, and I am sorry to say that his
finger was sore for days after.

There is record of a joust held at Parenzo as late as February 14, 1745.
There must have been diverting incidents on that occasion, since the
combatants contended with unfamiliar weapons which had been long out of
use!

Parenzo is poor in records of craftsmen, and its only artist of repute
is Bernardo of Parenzo, who was much employed in his day; pictures by
him are preserved in the Accademia at Venice, the Doria Gallery, Rome,
in the Louvre, and at Modena. He studied at Padua with Mantegna, under
Squarcione, and executed frescoes and chiaroscuro arabesques in the
cloister of S. Giustina in that city. When the Austrians converted the
convent to military uses the paintings were plastered over, and,
although again uncovered in 1895, they were found to be in a much
damaged condition. Bernardo died in 1531.

X

TO POLA BY SEA

From Parenzo Pola may be reached either by land or sea, the latter being
the more convenient way. The only place of importance passed is Rovigno,
though the Canal di Leme, an arm of the sea 7-1/2 miles long, from 70 to
100 ft. deep, and some 500 yds. broad, which affords accommodation for
much more shipping than ever makes use of it, leads up towards Due
Castelli, now ruinous, but at one time a thriving and important town. On
the way, near Orsera, the little island of "Scoglio Orlandino" is
passed, rocky and divided into two portions by a chasm or crack. Legend
says that Orlando, passing that way, made a slash at it and left it as
it now is.

Rovigno is thought to be the ancient Arupenum or Rubinum, but is first
mentioned by the anonymous Ravennese chronicler, and was probably
founded in the third or four